While the Faribault County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) offices may not be the first place many farmers would think about going into the planting season, co-program administrator Nathan Carr shares that there are several options available for farmers interested in starting a conservation project on their land this year.
“Most of the projects we undertake in agricultural situations tend to fall into two different categories: structural and non-structural management practices,” Carr explains. “Non-structural management focuses on improving soil health, while structural management typically involves waterway management.”
Common non-structural management practices used in agricultural settings include the planting of cover crops, as well as no-till and strip-tilling strategies. All of these strategies are applicable on a yearly basis, and focus on improving the soil health of a field over a period of several years.
“Cover crops are one of the easiest methods for improving soil health, though they do take longer for farmers to start seeing the benefits,” Carr says. “It can take up to five years of planting cover crops for you to start seeing any real evidence of improvement.”
Cover crops, which include plants like clover, rye, wheat, peas, and beans, are a non-cash crop planted after harvest and allowed to grow over the winter and into the spring. The cover crop is then either terminated (leaving a dense mat of foliage behind which is difficult for weeds to grow through) or plowed under (most common with beans and peas, sometimes nicknamed “green fertilizer” on account of their nitrogen-fixing properties) so the main crop can be planted.
“Cover crops are great for weed suppression, especially for farmers that employ no-till or strip-till strategies,” Carr remarks. “You get a really dense mat of foliage that competes well with weeds, which allows the primary crop to flourish while also improving soil health and decreasing runoff.”
No-till is a non-structural management practice that is exactly what it sounds like – rather than tilling the remains of the harvest into the soil in the fall or before planting in the spring, the fields are left untilled all year long and the next year’s crop is planted directly on top of the old. Strip-tilling, on the other hand, designates certain sections of field to be left alone as no-till zones, while other areas are tilled as normal.
“Strip-tilling can be useful if a farmer isn’t willing to go completely no-till,” Carr says. “It still provides protection from runoff and erosion, but the farmer also has clean strips of tilled soil to plant their crops in next spring.”
Many farmers across the Faribault County area are active participants in conservation efforts through non-structural management practices, and Carr is optimistic that these numbers will continue to improve over the years.
“I would say that somewhere around 4,000-5,000 acres of land per year in Faribault County are planted with cover crops, and another 2,500 acres are used for no-till,” Carr estimates. “Our hope is to have somewhere around $200,000 in funds available for farmers interested in using non-structural management practices cover crops and strip-till strategies this year, and around $350,000 dedicated to structural management practices.”
While non-structural management primarily deals with soil health, structural practices tend to deal with water, usually in the form of erosion prevention and runoff mitigation. These projects usually take the form of tiered drainage ditches dug into existing runoff areas in a field, slowing the flow of runoff from heavy rainfall and trapping soil that would otherwise erode from the field.
Compared to non-structural management practices, which must be upkept on a yearly basis, structural management practices can stay in place for anywhere from 15 to 25 years, depending on the specific situation.
“If you’ve ever seen a wide strip of green grass somewhere in the middle of a field for seemingly no reason, that’s probably a drainage ditch for that field,” Carr explains. “Water flows from high ground to low ground, and it often carves its own paths to get there. By modifying these naturally-made drainage paths so that water can pool and sediment can collect along the sides rather than going directly into the waterways, a lot of runoff and fertilizer pollution can be stopped at the source.”
Two of the biggest pollutants to freshwater waterways are often used as fertilizers by farmers: phosphorus and nitrogen. Both are highly detrimental to the environment, and the effects of these two pollutants can already be seen.
“Phosphorus is the chemical directly tied to algae blooms in lakes and rivers,” Carr says. “When used as a fertilizer in a farmer’s field, it becomes bound to the soil. When it rains, and that soil is washed into the waterways by erosion, that phosphorus dissolves into the water and pollutes the water. Sediment loss via erosion is one of the biggest culprits that causes phosphorus pollution.”
While phosphorus is a common pollutant to freshwater reservoirs where algae can bloom, such as rivers and lakes, nitrogen poses a more direct threat to humans and their drinking water sources.v
“Nitrogen does contribute to algae blooms, similar to phosphorus, but the more immediate problem with nitrogen pollution is that it contaminates our drinking water,” Carr explains. “Less than ten parts per million of nitrogen in water is considered safe to drink. Anything higher than that is a problem.”
Perhaps the biggest issue in tackling these problems is the matter of funding. Thankfully for the SWCD, there are a couple consistent revenue streams that they can tap into in order to help farmers with their own conservation projects.
“There was a conservation-based sales tax put in place back in 2008 that sends funds to us, and while it’s a very small amount – only 3/8 of 1% – that tax is in place until 2034,” Carr says. “Our biggest sources of funding come through the state in the form of state and federal conservation grants and the Board of Water and Soil Resources (BOWSR). Lots of conservation grants are really competitive, so most of our job is finding and applying for these grants.”
While the SWCD often fills out grants to acquire funding for its own projects, it also offers resources to help farmers fill out grant applications of their own for equipment and resources that will aid their own conservation efforts.
“If someone is interested in starting a conservation project on their own farm, I highly encourage them to come in and ask us about it – the worst we can say is no,” Carr shares. “There’s never going to be a perfect solution for farming, but every little bit helps. We’re here to help provide funds and information to the community. Every project is customized to the farmer undertaking it, and depending on the funds we have at the time, we can either cover up to 75 percent of the total project cost, or $35 per acre, whichever is less.”
Looking ahead to future conservation projects, the SWCD does have a goal in mind when looking at what it wants to accomplish in the next few years.
“We set a goal of reducing existing sediment in our county’s waterways by five percent by 2035 – that’s 10 years from now,” Carr says. “That’s an ambitious goal, but even if we can keep that number stable, or only decrease it by one or two percent, we’re making a positive difference for our waterways. Of course, actually achieving that five percent decrease would be the best outcome of all.”
